Jonathan Toews
Canadian | birth_date = | birth_place = Winnipeg, MB, CAN | draft = 3rd overall | draft_year = 2006 | draft_team = Chicago Blackhawks | career_start = 2007 |}}Jonathan Bryan Toews, OM (/ˈteɪvz/ tayvz; born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre who currently serves as captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the third overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He joined the team in 2007–08 and was nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy for NHL Rookie of the Year. The following season he was named team captain, becoming the second-youngest captain in NHL history (after Sidney Crosby) at the time. Toews won the Stanley Cup in 2010, along with the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoff MVP. After winning the Cup, Toews passed Peter Forsberg as the youngest player to join the Triple Gold Club. He won the Stanley Cup again in 2013 and 2015. Toews competes internationally for Team Canada and has won gold medals at the 2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, 2006 and 2007 World Junior Championships, 2007 World Championship, the 2010 Winter Olympics (a tournament in which he was named Best Forward) and the 2014 Winter Olympics. Playing career Amateur Toews was selected first overall in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft by the Tri-City Americans, but chose instead to play college hockey at the University of North Dakota. Prior to joining the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, he played 2004-05 at Shattuck-St. Mary's, a boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota. He scored 110 points in 64 games in his only season with the team. Toews played two seasons at North Dakota, compiling 85 points (40 goals, 45 assists), a plus-38 rating and a 56.7% faceoff winning percentage in 76 games. He helped the Fighting Sioux reach the NCAA Frozen Four in both 2006 and '07. Toews' registered 39 points as a freshman and earned Rookie of the Week honours twice. He helped North Dakota capture the Broadmoor Cup as WCHA champions and also was named West Regional MVP after tallying five points. Going into the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Toews was ranked third overall by NHL Central Scouting and was chosen third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. Professional Chicago Blackhawks In 2007-08, he opted out of his final two years of college hockey to debut with the Blackhawks after signing a 3-year, entry level contract on May 16, 2007. He scored his first NHL goal on his first shot in his first game on October 10 against the San Jose Sharks. He then recorded the second-longest point-scoring streak to start an NHL career, registering a point in each of his first 10 games (5 goals, 5 assists). On January 1, 2008, Toews sprained his knee in a game against the Los Angeles Kings. Despite missing 16 games from the injury, Toews led all rookies in goal-scoring and finished third in points. Toews finished second in team scoring behind fellow rookie Patrick Kane. Toews and Kane battled all season for the lead in team and rookie scoring before Toews went down to injury. The two were both nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy along with Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Bäckström; teammate Kane was named rookie of the year over Toews. On July 18, 2008, Toews was named team captain of the Blackhawks. At 20 years and 79 days, he became the third youngest team captain in NHL history, behind Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Toews was previously named an alternate captain in December 2007, during his rookie season. In the subsequent season, he was voted as a starter, along with teammates Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell, for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal. On February 27, 2009 he recorded his first career hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring three of his team's goals at home in a 5-4 overtime loss. Toews finished the 2008-09 season with 69 points in 82 games, helping the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance since 2002. He then added 13 points in 17 playoff games as the Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference finals, where they were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in five games. Less than a month into the 2009-10 season, Toews was sidelined with concussion-like symptoms after receiving an open-ice hit from defenceman Willie Mitchell in a 3–2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on October 21, 2009. Toews had his head down while receiving a pass in the neutral zone when Mitchell left the penalty box and checked him with his shoulder. Toews was sidelined for several games before returning to the line-up. In the final year of his contract, Toews, as well as teammates Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane, agreed to extensions in early December 2009. His deal was structured similarly to Kane's, worth about $6.5 million annually for five seasons. Toews finished the season with 68 points in 76 games. During the 2010 playoffs, Toews recorded his second career hat-trick, along with two assists, leading the Blackhawks in a 7–4 playoff victory against Vancouver on May 7, 2010. On June 9, 2010, Toews led Chicago to the franchise's first Stanley Cup championship since 1961, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Finals. He became the second-youngest captain in the history of the NHL to win the Cup, behind Sidney Crosby, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the championship the previous season. Toews scored seven goals and 29 points in the playoffs, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. By winning the Stanley Cup, he also became the youngest player, at 22 years of age, to become a member of the Triple Gold Club (Olympic gold, the Stanley Cup and World Championship). In the off-season, Toews was selected to be the cover player for EA Sports' video game NHL 11 on June 21, 2010. It marked the first time in EA Sports history that two players of the same team were featured on a video game cover two years in a row, as teammate Patrick Kane had been on the cover of NHL 10. During the 2010-11 NHL season season, Toews recorded a career-high 76 points in 80 games. Due to salary cap constraints, the Blackhawks were forced to trade away many of their players from the previous season's championship-winning team, including Antti Niemi, Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd. As a result, the Blackhawks narrowly made the 2011 playoffs, ending the regular season as the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference. Down three-games-to-none in the opening round against the Vancouver Canucks, the Blackhawks won three-straight games to force a deciding Game 7. In the contest, Toews scored a short-handed game-tying goal with 1:26 remaining in regulation. The Canucks, however, went on to score five minutes into the ensuing overtime period to eliminate the Blackhawks. Toews had four points in the seven-game series. Toews was to play in the NHL All-Star Game, but an injury sustained during a 5–2 loss to the Nashville Predators kept him from playing; he was replaced by Scott Hartnell. Toews finished the 2011–12 season with 57 points in an injury-shortened year. He returned to play at the start of the 2012 playoffs, where he scored the overtime winner in Game 5 to send the series back to Chicago for Game 6, where the opposition Phoenix Coyotes won 4–0 to eliminate the Blackhawks from the playoffs. In the lock-out-shortened season of 2012-13 season, Toews returned to top form. He helped the Blackhawks win the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best regular season record. In the 2013 playoffs, Toews led the Blackhawks to a Finals over the Boston Bruins, Chicago's second title in three seasons. At the end of the year, he was also awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the League's top defensive forward and was named to the NHL Second All-Star Team. Toews scored the second natural hat-trick of his NHL career on October 29, 2013, against Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators. The 2013-14 season finished as another productive campaign for Toews. In 76 games, he scored 28 goals and 40 assists for 68 points. The Blackhawks' 2014 playoff run lasted to overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference Final, and Toews put up 17 points (nine goals and eight assists) in 19 games. For the second year in a row, he finished as a finalist for the Selke Trophy, though he came third in voting behind the winner Patrice Bergeron and first runner-up Anže Kopitar. On July 9, 2014, the Blackhawks announced that Toews, along with teammate Patrick Kane, had signed an eight-year extension with the Blackhawks at an average annual salary of $10.5 million. The contract will come into effect on July 1, 2015, for the 2015-16 season. During Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference Final, Toews scored the game's first two goals en route to a 5–3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks In the Finals, Toews led the Blackhawks to their third Stanley Cup championship in six seasons after the team's Game 6 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2–0. On June 24, Toews was named the recipient of the Mark Messier Leadership Award, awarded to the individual "in recognition of his commitment and service to charities in his community," as well as exemplifying a superior leadership ability in hockey, beating-out fellow finalists Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Ladd. Toews also won an ESPY Award for 'Best NHL Player' in 2015. Electronic Arts selected Toews to appear on the cover of NHL 16. Toews was selected to play in the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, but was missed the game on account of illness. He was suspended for one game per NHL-rules for not attending the All-Star game. International play In 2005, Toews captained Canada West at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge to a gold medal. He scored the game-winning goal in a 3-1 win over Canada Pacific in the championship game. He finished with 12 points, first in tournament scoring, and was named tournament MVP. In his draft year, he competed on Team Canada's under-20 team at the 2006 World Junior Championships as the youngest player on the team. Toews tallied 2 assists during the tournament, both against Norway in preliminary play, as Canada defeated Russia in the gold medal game 5-0. In 2007, he earned a second straight World Junior gold medal. In the semi-final game against the U.S., Toews scored three times in the shootout to advance to the final. With 7 points, Toews led Team Canada in scoring and was named to the Tournament All-Star Team with teammate Carey Price. Shortly after his gold medal win, Toews was honored by his hometown AHL team, the Manitoba Moose, on February 3, 2007, as he was presented with an honorary jersey for his tournament efforts. That same year, Toews also made his senior international debut at the 2007 World Championships and recorded 7 points in 9 games competing against mostly professional players after coming off just his second year of college hockey. Team Canada earned gold over Finland 4-2 in the championship game. In doing so, he became the first Canadian to win a World Junior championship and a World Championship in the same year. After Toews' rookie year in the NHL, he competed in his second World Championships in 2008. As Russia defeated Team Canada in overtime in the gold medal game, it marked the first international competition that Toews had not won gold. On December 30, 2009, Toews was selected to play for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He was named to the squad along with Blackhawks teammates Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. He ended the tournament with a team-leading eight points, while his seven assists tied with Pavol Demitra of Slovakia for the tournament lead. Toews' lone goal of the tournament opened the scoring in Canada's 3–2 overtime win in the gold medal game against the United States. As a result, he was awarded Best Forward and tournament all-star team honours. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he scored the first goal in the gold medal game against Sweden on the way to Canada's second-straight Olympic gold medal. Awards *World U-17 Hockey Challenge MVP - 2005 *WCHA Rookie of the Week - twice in 2005-06 *NCAA West Regional MVP - 2006 *World Junior All-Star Team - 2007 *Nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy - 2008 *5 time NHL All-Star (2009, 2011, 2012,* 2015, 2016*, 2017) * – Did not attend due to injury/illness. *All-Star selection of the 2010 Olympic Hockey Tournament *2010 Winter Olympics — Gold Medalist, Best Forward *2010 Conn Smythe Trophy winner *Second-youngest to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (22 years, 41 days; only Patrick Roy was younger); youngest captain to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. *Youngest person to gain entry into the Triple Gold Club (22 years, 41 days at time last component was achieved) *Named full captain of an NHL team after only 64 NHL games; fifth youngest full captain (Connor McDavid, Gabriel Landeskog, Sidney Crosby and Vincent Lecavalier being the others) in NHL history. *One of six players to win the Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold in the same year. *2013 Frank J. Selke Trophy winner *NHL Second All-Star Team *2014 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist *2015 Mark Messier Leadership Award *2015 ESPY Best NHL Palyer *2016 World Cup of Hockey Gold Medal *Named on 100 Greatest NHL Players list for NHL's Centennial Anniversary Personal life Jonathan was born to Bryan Toews, an electrician at the University of Manitoba, and Andrée Gilbert, a native of Quebec from Sainte-Marie who was the managing director and finance expert for a credit union in the Winnipeg region before retiring to oversee Toews' media relations. He is bilingual, speaking fluent French and English. Like Toews, his brother David also attended Shattuck-Saint Mary's and began his freshman year at the University of North Dakota in 2008–09. In January 2007, Toews and former North Dakota teammate T.J. Oshie received alcohol-related citations for being minors in a Grand Forks, North Dakota, tavern. Toews and Oshie pleaded guilty to the charges. The two were later placed on probation, and ordered to perform community service. In the spring of 2010, a large mural of Toews visible from the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago received a degree of notoriety. The mural depicted Toews with an abnormally shaped nose and mouth, posed beside a picture of the Stanley Cup (appropriately, Toews would end up holding the Cup after winning it later that year). Toews commented on the mural, stating, "I guess it's from a picture and they must have embellished it a little bit. They're not helping me by any means." Following the celebration of Toews bringing the Stanley Cup to his hometown of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba announced that they would be naming a northern lake after Toews in honour of his success.The lake is located 150 km (93 mi) north of Flin Flon and is named Toews Lake. The same day, the Dakota Community Centre in St. Vital where Toews first played organized hockey was renamed the Jonathan Toews Community Centre. Additionally, he was given the Keys to the City to honour his achievement and hard work ethic. Toews trains with EVO Ultrafit throughout the year. Career Stats International statistics External links * Jonathan Toews' stats on hockeydb Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:North Dakota Fighting Sioux players Category:Born in 1988 Category:Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks Category:Member of the Canadian National Team Category:2010 Olympian Category:Stanley Cup champions